Evolution of the cerebellar sense of self

John Montgomery and David Bodznick

Synthesises a larget body of research, providing a coherent scaffold from which to explore the evolution and function of the cerebellum

Accessible to those with little background knowledge in neuroscience - the focus on the systems and functional level of analysis omits unnecessary cellular and biophysical detail and jargon

Provides a common link between the function of the cerebellum as it first evolved in jawed vertebrates, through main-stream cerebellum research on mammalian model systems, to the growing body of work on the role of cerebellum in human cognitive function

Evolution of the cerebellar sense of self

John Montgomery and David Bodznick

Description

The cerebellum is an intriguing component of the brain. In humans it occupies only 10% of the brain volume, yet has approximately 69 billion neurons; that is 80% of the nerve cells in the brain. The cerebellum first arose in jawed vertebrates such as sharks, and sharks in fact have an additional cerebellum-like structure that works as an adaptive filter. The function of shark cerebellum-like structures is to discriminate 'self' from 'other' in sensory inputs. With the evolution of the true cerebellum the adaptive filter functionality was adopted for motor control and paved the way for athleticism and movement finesse that we see in swimming, running, climbing and flying vertebrates.

This book uses an evolutionary perspective to open up the exciting body of work that is cerebellar research to a wide audience. Understanding the brain is of interest to many people, from many different backgrounds, and for many different reasons. Therefore, understanding cerebellum is a significant step towards the wider challenge of understanding the brain.

This book wil be of interest to neuroscientists, neurologists and psychologists, in addition to computer scientists, and engineers concerned with machine/human interactions and robotics.

Evolution of the cerebellar sense of self

John Montgomery and David Bodznick

Author Information

John Montgomery, Professor at the University of Auckland, former Director of Marine Science and James Cook Fellow, Marine Science and Biological Sciences,David Bodznick, Professor at Wesleyan University, former Dean of Science and Mathematics, Department of Biology

Evolution of the cerebellar sense of self

John Montgomery and David Bodznick

From Our Blog

The cerebellum is an intriguing part of our brain. Its name is the diminutive form of cerebrum, so literally means 'little brain'. It is true that, in humans, it occupies just 10% of the brain volume, yet recent research shows it accounts for approximately 80% of the nerve cells; a complex network of approximately 69 billion neurons! Why does the 'little brain' contain such a disproportionate number of neurons?